1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to highly seasoned snack chip products. More specifically, the present invention relates to highly seasoned snack chip products which comprise relatively large amounts of seasoning ingredients and thus exhibit strong seasoning flavors, and which also possess a desirable total oil content.
2. Description of the Background Art
Snack chip products, including potato chips (crisps) and tortilla chips, are popular with consumers throughout much of the world. Snack chips often are seasoned with salt and/or any of a wide variety of flavorful sweet or savory seasoning materials. Snack chips seasoned with barbeque, sour cream and onion, or cheese flavored seasonings are especially popular in the United States, but other flavors are equally popular among other cultures. Solid seasoning materials typically are applied to fully cooked base chips (such unseasoned snack chips are referred to herein as "base" chips) in the form of a powdery or granular material or blend of materials. Although such solid seasoning materials often are referred to as "dry," such materials may include fats or oils. Technologies also exist for the application of seasoning materials in the form of viscous liquid oleaginous (oil-based) compositions.
Seasoned potato, tortilla and other snack chips are typically manufactured by first preparing the base chips (by frying in oil or baking) and then transporting the base chips to a seasoning apparatus. One conventional seasoning apparatus consists of a rotating drum (tumbler) that receives the base chips, with a seasoning dispensing apparatus mounted within the drum. An example of one such apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,593, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. The seasoning dispensing apparatus applies seasoning to the chips at a pre-determined rate as the chips are being tumbled within the drum. The tumbling action of the chips helps to distribute the seasoning material uniformly. Although providing a uniform coating of seasoning on both sides of each chip may be a goal of the snack chip producer, this is often difficult to attain.
Typically, dry powdery or granulated seasoning materials do not adhere especially well to the surface of base snack chip products. When the manufacturing process is properly designed, both oil on the surface of the chip and oil in the seasoning material itself can play roles in adhering the seasoning to the chip. In the case of base snack chips which are produced by frying, for example, the chips may be removed from the frying oil and transported to the seasoning apparatus where the powdered or granulated seasoning composition comes into contact with oil remaining on the surface of the chip. Where the base snack chips are prepared by baking (dehydrating in hot air ovens) rather than frying, as is the case with baked tortilla chips or baked fabricated potato crisps, oil may be applied to all or part of the surface of the base chips prior to the application of a seasoning material.
There is an upper limit to the amount of powdered or granular seasoning that can be applied and successfully retained on a snack chip. Once the surface layer of oil has been fully covered with a thin coating of dry seasoning, additional seasoning does not adhere well and the practical limit is attained. Physical forces encountered during the tumbling action that is used to ensure uniform seasoning application limits the total amount of seasoning material that remains adhered to the chips. Snack chips are subjected to additional physical stresses downstream of the seasoning process, for example, during the typical form-fill-seal vertical bagmaker packaging process. These stresses can cause the seasoning to separate from the surface of the chip. Additionally, the seasoning adhered to the surfaces of packaged snack chips may be physically stressed when the product is transported to the retail outlet, when the packages are loaded onto shelves or other display devices at the retail outlet and when the consumer transports the product home. During each of these times seasoning may separate from the snack chip and accumulate undesirably at the bottom of the package. The separation of seasoning from the chip reduces the flavor of the chip and negatively impacts consumer acceptance of the product.
Oil content is another factor that makes a significant contribution to the overall consumer acceptance of snack chip products. For health and weight control reasons consumers often desire to limit their total dietary intake of fats and oils. However, fats or oils play an important role in the texture and other so-called hedonic attributes of snack chips, such as "mouthfeel." Snack chips with very low oil content often lack the hedonic attributes consumers expect and desire. Snack food chips with an excessive oil content can be perceived as undesirably "oily" or "greasy" by consumers. Maximizing the consumer acceptance of a snack food chip may require the manufacturer to balance the oil content of the product between these upper and lower boundaries.
To this end, technology has been developed in the potato chip industry to remove oil from base chips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,199 (Neel and Reed) discloses an apparatus and method for preparing low-oil potato chips. Base potato chips are removed from frying oil prior to reaching their final moisture content. The par-fried chips are contacted with superheated steam to physically remove oil from the surface of the base chips soon after frying. The processed base chips have less than about 25% oil by weight. After the surface oil has been removed, the processed chips are finish-dried (dehydrated) in a hot air oven to a pre-determined final moisture content.
A need has existed for improved snack chip seasoning technologies. More specifically, a need has existed for improved snack chip seasoning technologies that would permit greater amounts of seasoning to be applied and securely adhered to each chip. The desired result of such technology is a snack chip that securely carries a relatively large amount of seasoning and thus presents a relatively strong seasoning flavor to the consumer. At the same time, however, the snack chip should have a total oil content within an acceptable range, and the seasoning should be securely adhered to the chip.